Diaper maker Huggies, which recently launched an ad campaign that seemingly depicted fathers as less-than-capable parents, has pulled the television commercials and issued a mea culpa.

In the campaign, dads housed together were given Huggies diapers and wipes and left to care for their babies themselves for five days. A Facebook page was then set up for viewers to “watch the fun.”

But what the marketing masterminds failed to realize is that millions of men are stay-at-home dads or full-time single fathers, and even among those who aren’t, one-third consider themselves “dedicated, diaper-changing dads.”And those men were not happy.

One set up an online protest called ‘We’re Dads, Huggies. Not Dummies,’ and another expressed his dismay on The Good Men Project, saying, “It is not an ultimate test to leave dads alone with their babies. Shocker alert: most dads CAN handle their babies alone, at naptime or any other time.”

In the face of the backlash, Huggies pulled the plug on the campaign and apologized. Parent company Kimberly-Clark issued a statement that said in part:

We have listened and learned … We also realize that a fact of life is that dads care for their kids just as much as moms do and in some cases are the only caregivers. The intention of our Huggies TV ad was to illustrate that dads have an opinion on product performance just as much as moms do.

Take a look at a news piece about the outrage and one of the ads that sparked the firestorm.